


slipping through my fingers

by dontstraytoofar



Category: Mamma Mia! (2008)
Genre: Fluff, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Other, Young Donna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 10:24:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15410877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontstraytoofar/pseuds/dontstraytoofar
Summary: donna learns early on in life that there are two different types of love.-or snapshots of donna and sophie.





	slipping through my fingers

**Author's Note:**

> hey i KNOW i have to update my other fics sjdskd which i am! but i saw mamma mia 2 and got emotional. lily james as young!donna is a god send and i just wish we got more flashbacks of sophie + donna growing together!!
> 
> anyways comments and kudos super appreciated!!! enjoy xx

  
  
“When they ask you what your favourite moment is, you will say her. You will always say her.”

— Caitlyn Siehl

 

- 

 

 

Donna learns early on in life there are two different types of love.

There’s that fleeting feeling of bliss, of soft touches and deep kisses; of freedom and safety and something that tastes _new,_ exciting. It tastes like the ocean, salt on her tongue, and it’s Donna falling and falling and falling; but never very far.

Then there’s…then there’s the permanent love. The one that settles deep in her chest, the one that makes her heart almost… house-shaped, with only one person ever in her entire life calling it home.

Sophie.

When she holds her, for the very first time, she sobs and she smiles and Donna feels the sun from the open window filter in and hit her skin; bathing the small bundle in her arms in warmth. That’s what Sophie is, from the very first time she ever held her. _Warmth._

She’s exhausted, and weak, but even just _holding_ her Donna feels strong again. Like…like she can _do_ this. She can be everything Sophie needs, everything she deserves.

This type of love? It’s new, and scary, (god, so scary) but goddamn it if Donna isn’t going to love the little girl in her arms until her breathing stops.

 

 

-

 

 

 

_7 months._

When Sophie starts to crawl, Donna almost cries with how proud of her she is.

She blames it on post pregnancy hormones, even though it’s been seven months since she had her, but _oh my god,_ it’s the cutest thing and Donna just feels so _relieved._ Because things are okay, and they’re _going_ to be okay.

She was cutting up apples when it happened, watching her daughter play with toys that Tanya and Rosie sent over, with a warm smile; listening to the nonsensical babbles that left Sophie’s mouth.

 “You okay over there, baby girl?”

Sophie smiled, clapped her hands and just…got on all fours. Clumsily crawling to the sound of her mother’s voice. Donna opened her mouth in shock, dropping a half-cut apple and not even caring it fell to the floor as she ran over to her daughter; skidding on the wooden floors on her overall covered knees and opening her arms out, smiling so wide and encouraging that Sophie couldn’t help but mimic her mother.

 “Come on! You can do it baby, just a little more.”

Sophie raised one arm, slapping it down and giggling as she moved further; and when she finally made it to Donna, the older woman scooped her up in her arms, laughing and covering her daughters face in kisses, spinning her around and listening to how Sophie giggled with high pitched laughter.

The wind-chimes in their house moved softly in the wind, salt air and the summer sun filtering softly into the room. And life is…good, it’s _perfect,_ Donna thinks.

It’s so fucking perfect.

 

 

 -

 

 

 

_11 months._

 

 “Ma-ma. Mama. Can you say that for me honey?”

Sophie blinks back to her mother, slowly smiling and giggling as she claps her hands together, reaching for a lock of her mother’s blonde sun kissed hair and playing with it. Donna laughs, and kneeling in front of her daughter in the soft grass, with warm sun on her backs, has never felt more beautiful.

The washing she was hanging on the line behind her has been forgotten, sheets swaying in the wind as Donna picks up her daughter, resting her on her hip and bouncing her softly. Walking to the fruit trees and feeling the late blooming flower petals swirl around their bodies.

 “One day baby, you’ll be talking my ear off, huh?”

Sophie babbles back, reaching for a passing orange with grabby hands. Donna laughs softly, letting her pick it, and she wonders in this moment. Wonders why she was ever scared, ever afraid of this life and what it held and how to even _do_ this by herself.

She knows now, that she _isn’t_ doing this by herself. She isn’t alone, she has Sophie, somehow Donna knows she’s gonna be fine. More than fine.

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

_4 years._

 “Mama mama mama mama mama-“

Sophie runs excitedly towards her mother, hands cupped together holding something in her palms. Donna, currently painting the walls of Sophie’s new room, widens her eyes and steps down from the step ladder _just_ in time. Saving a collision of legs and a body, catching her sprinting daughter and picking her squirming, smiling girl up.

 “Woah! Okay, first, you know you can’t run in the house,” Sophie impatiently bounces, whining and letting her head thunk to her mum’s shoulder. Donna laughs at that, shaking her head fondly.

 “Second, you _definitely_ have either a frog, a butterfly, ooooorr-“ Sophie lights up, Donna teasingly trailing off and waiting for a reply. Sophie nods so fast her blonde waves fly across her face, Donna tucks them behind her ear, listening to the little girl and watching as she holds her cupped hands out.

 “It’sa froggie Mama, look!”

Donna gasps, hiking her little girl higher up on her hip as she tries to move her from the wet paint splattered on her overalls. “Wow baby! Another one? What’s this one’s name?”

Sophie scrunches her face up adorably, biting her lip and thinking hard. Like she was figuring out the origins of the universe. “Uhhh…ummm, Daisy! Her name’s Daisy.”

Sophie looks proud of herself at that, and Donna smiles, watching how her daughter cups her hands more so the frog doesn’t jump out. She brushes Sophie’s hair back, speaking softly, like only the two of them existed.

 “I know you probably love Daisy lots baby, but she’s got a family too that she probably misses soooo much.”

Sophie pouts, body deflating at the thought of having to let her new friend go. “I know,” She lights up in the next moment though, her smile reaching her blue eyes. “Do you think she’d let me see them?”

Donna nods, walking them out of the room and to the back door, cupping her free hand under Sophie’s too to hold the frog. “Of course baby girl. Where abouts did you find her?”

Sophie bounces in her hold, pointing in the direction of the garden. “Near the pond, Mama.”

When they make it to the shallow pond, Donna kneels, holding their cupped hands near the water as Sophie leans over the edge, Donna chuckling lightly and pulling her back softly so she doesn’t fall in.

 “Say: ‘Bye-bye Daisy’”

Sophie pouts, sighing softly as she lets her mum guide their hands to the edge of the water, speaking softly so only the frog can hear her. Donna can too, but she smiles and acts like she can’t.

“Bye-bye Daisy, be safe.”

When the frog jumps from their hands, landing with a light splash, Sophie quickly turns in her mother’s arms and buries her face in her neck; hiding her tears. Donna’s heart almost breaks, with both how emotional and caring her daughter is, and also how _fast_ she’s growing up. How it feels like she’s slipping through her fingers.

 “Aw baby, it’s okay.” She runs her fingers through her daughter’s hair, kissing the top of her head, whispering conspiratorially in her ear and earning a watery giggle. “One day, Daisy will come back with a whole _bunch_ of froggies sweetheart, how cool would that be!?”

Sophie sniffs with a smile, nodding her head against Donna’s neck, and her mum stands up; walking to the back door and saying something about making strawberry jam and painting pretty pictures on her bed room wall.

And Sophie likes that idea a lot. Throwing paint on the walls, sugar and fruit, and her Mama dancing and singing to a song that Sophie doesn’t know, but laughs to all the same.

 

-

 

 


End file.
